


Arbitrary Rules, Fullmetal Alchemist Edition

by Ferith12



Series: Arbitrary Rules [9]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:41:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24897853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ferith12/pseuds/Ferith12
Series: Arbitrary Rules [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1790317
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. Table of Contents

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LiveAndLetRain (CaraLee)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaraLee/gifts).



2\. Fullmetal Alchemist, Ed and Colonel Mustang talk while Alphonse observes, 121 words

3\. Winry Rockbell, dreams about that time the boys next door nearly killed themselves, 400 words

4\. Fullmetal Alchemist, conversations after the Promised Day, 104 words

5\. Alphonse Elric, poem, 64 words


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fullmetal Alchemist and #10, write something where at least half the sentences are five words or less.

“Would it kill you, Fullmetal,” Mustang said, “If for once in your life you went to the place I told you to go, and solved to problem I told you to solve, and did not save a small village from a natural disaster, or overthrow a corrupt official, or discover a conspiracy, and inevitably unearth ten more problems I have to solve, and leave me with piles of paperwork to file to explain it all? Just once?”

“Yes.”

Alphonse sighed. It was a good sigh. It was the sort of sigh that sounded very long-suffering and mature, like Al was embarrassed by his brother but in a fond way, and not at all like he was laughing at both of them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Winry Rockbell and 20, Write something in first person present tense (this is literally just because I hate first person present tense with every fiber of my being)

I have dreams sometimes, of that day.

In my dreams, sometimes there is a monster with Alphonse’s voice. In the dreams, sometimes Edward’s blood is red, and sometimes it is black, and sometimes there is no blood at all, but always his bones are stark white, visible where his limbs aren’t. The monster with Alphonse’s voice is huge and black and featureless. Everything is dark, and I don't know how I can see anything, because there isn’t any light at all. But in the way of dreams I can see it all so clearly. The monster with Alphonse’s voice has Edward in its arms, and I know that it tore Ed’s limbs from his body and ate them, and Alphonse is gone.

Other times I dream that Alphonse is trapped inside the armor. The armor is so large and cold and dead, in a way that it never is in real life. Alphonse is inside it, and I can hear him beating on the metal plates, trying desperately to get out. Edward is bleeding out on my floor screaming at me to save his little brother, trying to crawl towards the armor, helpless. I try to get Alphonse out of the armor. Sometimes I beat on it with my fists, tear at its seams with my fingernails. Sometimes I have my automail tools with me, and I do everything I can think of to pry the plates away, but it’s unnaturally, impossibly impenetrable, and nothing I do so much as dents it. And always, while I’m not looking, Edward quietly finishes bleeding out and dies.

Sometimes I dream that I’m with them when they perform the transmutation. Sometimes I try to tell them to stop, I try to tell them this is a stupid idea, I try to warn them, but they can’t here me. Other times I’m as eager as they are. “Hurry up!” I tell them, “Do my parents next.” And always they activate the array, and their house burns down around us.

I dream sometimes. Variations on a common theme, each more horrible than the last. And when I wake, I look out my window at the black remains of the Elric house, and I think of them, out in the great big world doing who knows what dangerous things. And all I can do is hope that they come back to me more or less intact.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 5\. Write something using only dialogue

“Have you heard the Fuhrer's dead?”

“Who hasn’t heard, it’s all over the papers.”

“What do the papers know? The official story’s gotta be a cover for something.”

“Of course it is, but good luck finding out what.”

“Hey, Al?”

“What, Brother?”

“We made it.”

“Yeah, we did.”

“ _ What the fuck?” _

“Winry…”

“What the actual  _ Fuck _ ?!”

“Winry, it’s fine.”

“Your shoulder is full of shrapnel!”

“You’ll fix it.”

“You realize I’m an automail mechanic, not a surgeon.”

“You’ll do great!”

“If I ever get my hands on Truth…”

“WINRY!”

“So, back to politics, then, sir?”

“Ugh, politics.”

“Please, sir, I know you love it.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alphonse Elric and #2, poetry in ABAB quatrains

Tied by a thread

In the emptiness

Looking instead

Toward the happiness

Borne on the winds

Of mourning

Holding to friends

And turning

To dust

To light

To trust

To life

This is what it is to be living

When all is lost 

And giving

But never more than is worth the cost

This is wisdom

It grows slowly

Within freedom

To act foolishly


End file.
